[Daily Caller] The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Editor-in-Chief Chris Bedford discussed the Capitol Hill IT scandal involving the Awan family Wednesday on Fox Business and said the corruption may go all the way to the top.

Bedford said the Awan brothers ‐ who worked as IT aides for many Democratic members of Congress including Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz ‐ have multiple lawsuits pending against them by members of their own family. He believes there is a pattern of nefarious behavior.

Skipping down a bit:

"We also have some news coming out today, The Foundation for Accountability And Civic Trust is bringing an ethics complaint against Rep. Emanuel Cleaver potentially for paying people who weren’t members of his staff and giving Awan as well, access to his IT networks without paying him and these things could be pretty serious for Rep. Cleaver," Bedford added.

The Foundation and Accountability and Civic Trust is claiming the payment scheme represents a ghost employee scheme that allowed Awan to defraud Congress.

"So far people have been slow-walking this and Democrats in Congress have refused to bring complaints. They’re the victims since members of Congress actually own the information inside of their offices, but what they don’t own is the money they used to pay their staff," Bedford said. "If this goes onward then it will be referred to the ethics committee and they’re going to have to investigate whether or not [Cleaver] broke House law."Emphasis added

#6
Confidence games continue to flourish, primarily because prominent victims rarely report them, for fear of being prosecuted for their own complicity in a criminal activity.
-The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

#8
I shutter to think of some of the stuff Pakistain and Russia have if the Awans got access to the Senate and House Intelligence committees and the Senate and House Appropriations Committees...a lot of highly classified stuff goes down in those committees and I am just astounded at how lacksidasical the investigation is.

The blackmail and incriminating dirt found on some of the Congress critter computers could have considerable leverage for keeping your mouth shut.

And AGAIN, where was the CIA in all of this? Didn't know that a ISI asset was tinkering with hard drives in the Rayburn Building...oh come on.

#9
And AGAIN, where was the CIA in all of this? Didn't know that a ISI asset was tinkering with hard drives in the Rayburn Building...oh come on.
Posted by Sock Puppet of Doom

My guess (and only a guess) is there was a strategic 'trade off.' The Klingons and the FBI looked the other way whilst the Awans and the DNC did their domestic political monitoring, while at the same time the Awans provided a convenient, local (Woodbridge - Falls Church, VA) link to Pakistani intelligence.

I suspect the Awan's profited via both transactions, compliments of the US taxpayer. You get something, we get something. Everyone goes home happy.

Anyone hearing anything about the Awan's in the MSM. No, of course not. And you're not likely to either.

[Townhall] The Department of Justice announced Wednesday additional documents related to the Operation Fast and Furious scandal during the Obama administration will be released to the House Oversight Committee. The documents were previously withheld by Attorney General Eric Holder, who was voted in civil and criminal contempt of Congress for refusing to turn them over. President Obama invoked executive privilege in June 2012 to prevent their release just hours before the contempt vote was held.

"The Department of Justice under my watch is committed to transparency and the rule of law. This settlement agreement is an important step to make sure that the public finally receives all the facts related to Operation Fast and Furious," Attorney General Jeff Sessions released in a statement.

The Department stated the document release is part of "the conditional settlement agreement, filed in federal court in Washington D.C." and "would end six years of litigation arising out of the previous administration’s refusal to produce documents requested by the Committee."

During an interview with Fox and Friends Tuesday, the brother of slain Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry called on the Trump administration to reopen the investigation into the operation and to release previously withheld documents.

"We need to find out the truth, exactly what happened, how it happened, why it happened. We need Mr. Trump, President Trump, to unseal the documents, reverse executive privilege so that we know what happened, and that we can hold the people accountable that are responsible," Kent Terry said.

Terry was murdered by Mexican cartel rip crew members in December 2010. They were carrying guns illegally trafficked by ATF to Mexico through the Fast and Furious program.

On Planet Earth, of course!
Scientists have discovered a whopping 467 million hectares of previously unreported forest scattered around the world.

"To 'find' an area of forest that represents 10 percent of the global forest cover is very very significant, with broad consequences for global carbon budgeting and dryland restoration and management," says Professor Andrew Lowe, Chair of Plant Conservation Biology at the University of Adelaide. "It shows that dryland regions have a greater capacity to support trees than previously perceived and understood. With its low opportunity costs, dryland could therefore provide a unique chance to mitigate climate change through large-scale conservation and afforestation actions. It also shows the potential for improved livelihoods of the people in these areas."

#3
All of a piece. Fail to notice that which can actually be seen (trees) while chasing grants to prove a dubious conjecture (gerbil worming.) What's being missed in plain sight while the imaginary Russian collusion hunt proceeds breathlessly apace? Historians are going to have fun chronicling this era...

[ARABNEWS] Flying cars ‐ which have graced cinema screens for decades ‐ are about to be launched for real, with the unveiling of a commercial model in Geneva this week.Now that we live in The Future, we need these things. I'm not sure the huge quadracopter's gonna fit in the normal garage though.
From James Bond to The Jetsons, flying cars have long captured our imaginations. Now Dutch company Pal-V said they are almost ready to take to the streets, and the skies.License requirements are gonna be restrictive too. If you need a pilot's license to fly to the office, I doubt there's gonnna be a mass market. If you don't need a pilot's license, there are going to be occasional knotheads driving into 757s and such.
It unveiled its Liberty Flying Car ‐ a sleek, red three-wheeled gyrocopter-type vehicle ‐ at the Geneva Motor Show and said client deliveries could start next year.The potential for car bombs would be extraordinary.
The vehicles allow drivers to zip through traffic on the ground or simply fly above it.

An alliance between Airbus, Audi and Italdesign also presented a concept flying vehicle, "Pop.Up Next" at the Geneva show.

That modular system, made up of an electric car with a huge quadcopter fastened to the roof, is expected to be commercialized from 2025, the companies said.

"Frustration" sparked the idea for Liberty for Pal-V (Personal Air and Land Vehicle).

In a plane, "you start at a point where you don’t want to start and you end up in a place where you don’t want to be," company chief Robert Dingemanse told AFP.

"The Pal-V is the perfect product for city-to-city mobility," he said, as "outside the cities you fly, inside the city you drive."

The two-seater vehicle has retractable helicopter blades and is powered by a gasoline-fueled engine.

It can fly 500 km (310 miles), or drive nearly four times that distance without refueling, reaching a maximum speed of 160 km an hour.

[Freebeacon] Police in the United Kingdom announced on Wednesday that a former Russian Army officer who spied for the U.K. was attacked over the weekend with a nerve agent.

Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia are in critical condition after they were found unconscious on Sunday in Salisbury, a city in Southwest England, the Associated Press reports. After years of imprisonment in Russia, Skripal was granted refuge in the U.K. as part of a 2010 spy swap between the United States and Russia.

The two were previously known to have come into contact with an unknown substance when they were found, and an investigation is ongoing. A police officer who first responded to Skripal and his daughter is also being treated in the hospital.

Metropolitan Police counterterrorism chief Mark Rowley made the confirmation that the pair had come into contact with a nerve agent and that they were believed to have been "targeted specifically."

"Having established that a nerve agent is the cause of the symptoms leading us to treat this as attempted murder, I can also confirm that we believe that the two people who became unwell were targeted specifically," Rowley said.

Russia has denied responsibility for the attack, despite the similarity between this attack and the death of ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko, who was killed by radioactive poisoning in London back in 2006. An investigation into Litvinenko's death concluded Russian agents poisoned him by lacing his tea with radioactive polonium-210 and that the killing was likely approved by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia has also continued to deny involvement in Litvinenko's death.

#3
I do not believe them regarding the nerve agent. No proof is offered, just a 'we know but aren't saying'; that attitude isn't cutting it. They have completely eroded any intrinsic trust I might have had in their purported fairness and civic responsibility. They would CYA now purely out of habit or just to obfuscate. Damn them all.

#10
Now 21 people are being treated for possible exposure to a nerve agent? I take back what I said earlier. This sounds like it might be a persistent nerve agent. Or herd behavior, but I'm tending to something persistent now. Sample is too large.

[ARABNEWS] Britannia on Wednesday said it was sure that the Russian ex-spy was attacked with nerve gas, as Moscow accused politicians and journalists of whipping up anti-Russian sentiment. Earlier,

Interior Minister Amber Rudd said police "know more about the substance" after chairing an emergency government meeting to discuss the case of Sergei Skripal, but did not release any details of what progress had been made.

She also called for "cool heads" over the poisoning, which is already being linked with Russia by British politicians and media.

The 66-year-old Russian, who moved to Britannia in a 2010 spy swap, is in a critical condition in hospital along with his daughter Yulia after they collapsed on a bench outside a shopping center in the southwestern English city of Salisbury on Sunday.

"We need to keep a cool head," said Rudd, adding that Sherlocks would respond to "evidence, not to rumor."

Police say they are keeping an open mind about what happened, but Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson on Tuesday pointed the finger at Russia.

He noted the "echoes" with the 2006 poisoning in London of former Russian spy and Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko, which Britannia has blamed on Moscow.

The Kremlin hit back on Wednesday, with foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova telling news hounds the story "was straight away used to boost an anti-Russian campaign in the media."

Zakharova earlier said Johnson’s comments were "wild."

National counter-terrorism police have taken control of the case, citing the "unusual circumstances," and opened a new scene of the crime on Wednesday in the nearby town of Amesbury.Probably only a coincidence for those who believe in such things, but north on the A338 approx 6 kms from where the Colonel and his daughter were found lies Winterbourne Gunner.

[DAWN] The leaders of North and South Korea will hold a historic summit in the Demilitarised Zone next month after Pyongyang expressed willingness to give up its nuclear weapons in exchange for security guarantees, Seoul said on Tuesday.

The North is open to "frank" talks with the United States on denuclearisation and would suspend missile and nuclear tests while dialogue was under way, the South’s national security adviser Chung Eui-yong said after returning from a meeting in Pyongyang with leader Kim Pudge Jong-un...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished.... US President Donald Trump...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... gave a cautious welcome to the announcement.

"Possible progress being made in talks with North Korea," Trump tweeted.

"For the first time in many years, a serious effort is being made by all parties concerned." "The World is watching and waiting! May be false hope, but the US is ready to go hard in either direction!"

North Korea is subject to multiple rounds of UN Security Council sanctions over its atomic and ballistic missile programmes, and has long insisted that its "treasured sword" is not up for negotiation. But it is willing to abandon the programmes if its national security &dash; and that of its leadership &dash; is guaranteed, Chung said.

That remains a high threshold &dash; Pyongyang has considered itself at risk of invasion by the United States since the Korean War ended in a ceasefire in 1953, leaving the two technically still at war. But Chung said Kim is willing to discuss denuclearisation in talks with Washing­ton, which could be the crucial concession needed to enable a dialogue.

[DAWN] North Korea's surprise offer of nuclear talks has thrown Donald Trump...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... the biggest global challenge of his administration and prompted a rare show of restraint from the usually outspoken United States' (US) president.Carrot-stick-carrot-stick...
Perched in the Oval Office, the 71-year-old president was uncharacteristically cautious.

"I don't want to talk so much about things that we don't know yet," he said, holding out for clarity about a seemingly enticing offer from Pyongyang.

Details are still sketchy, but North Korea gave word it may be willing to freeze provocative weapons tests in return for talks with the US.

Kim Pudge Jong-un...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished..., the North's leader, may even be willing to scrap nuclear weapons if Washington takes regime change and military action off the table.

Later this week officials from South Korea, who brought the message from Kim, as well as officials from Japan and the US, will huddle in Washington to compare notes.

#1
So all of this war mongering by Trump actually worked? As opposed to begging and pleading and sweetheart deals with a million loopholes and phony promises?

Who would have thought? Obviously the main stream media thought DJT was going to drag us into a war or even worse show how incompetent Madeline Notsobright and Slick Willie and Shillary/Fred Munster were in their dealings with NORK

#2
The "Leading from behind" B.S. didn't work worth squat. Reagan said "Negotiate from a position of strength." Trump must also believe this. Others such as SA and the Norks must believe Trump follows this axiom.

[Breitbart] United States Steel announced Wednesday morning that it would call back 500 employees to work at its Granite City, Illinois, plant after President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. would impose tariffs on foreign steel.

"Our Granite City Works facility and employees, as well as the surrounding community, have suffered too long from the unending waves of unfairly traded steel products that have flooded U.S. markets," U.S. Steel President and Chief Executive Officer David B. Burritt said in a statement released Wednesday.

The steel company announced that it would need the additional personnel to support increased demand for steel after President Trump announced last week that the U.S. would impose tariffs on aluminum and steel imports.

Company leaders praised President Trump for his decision to increase competition among different companies, adding that steel imports threaten this country’s economic and national security.

#2
We've been in a bloody 'trade war' since Dick Nixon left office, possibly before. The problem is we're losing the fok'in war.

Take a trek around your local Bauhaus (home improvement center) and tell much how much non-German, non-Swiss, non-Austrian merchandise you come across. Make a point to try and find as many Chinese, Paki, and Indian made items as possible.

Hat tip to the Germans, at least they know how to protect their working man.

#3
Oh by the way, next time you need a replacement part for your Mercedes, Porche, or BMW, just drop by your local O'Reilly's or NAPA store. I'm sure they'll have it readily at hand, and at a very competitive price.

#4
We still have a lot of medium-sized companies that produce quality products. Apprenticeship system is first class. This helps a lot. Youth unemployment is very low.

The U.S. has given up far too much production. The service sector is doing much better.

Actually the German trade surplus is above all to do with machinery and plants which America buy in order to rebuild its economy. The trade surplus is reversed in the services sector, where the Americans have a significant surplus over Germany.

#10
And those 500 jobs will turn into 2000 when suppliers like coal and ore mining hire to supply the mill and business picks up to supply the new workers from everything from housing to entertainment.

#13
Europe has had it far too good for far too long and now takes it for granted that they will profit handsomely by screwing over American workers. That time is at an end. Time to move out of your parent's basement, Europe, and find your own way in the world.

Don't worry, nobody is saying you need to stop saying sneering, vile, hateful things about America. You'll never have to stop looking down on us. This is just business.

I don't get it. What's "unfair" about a trade surplus per se? Please explain how Germany uses unfair practices in order to achieve that?

Germany has always had a trade surplus, even when the Deutsche Mark was strongest. Germany never competed with prices, but with quality.

Other countries with a “security relationship” to the United States may seek exemptions by opening talks with the administration on “alternative ways” to address the threats the administration alleges their products pose to national security.
“Our industries have been targeted for years and years, decades in fact, by unfair foreign trade practices leading to the shuttered plants and mills, the laying off of millions of workers, and the decimation of entire communities. And that’s going to stop. It’s going to stop.”

Well, you may accuse China of doing that with a state-sponsored steel industry. But please tell me what the German steel industry did?

I'm sorry to say that but you currently have a president who may know about real estate and running TV shows, but who doesn't have a clue about global economy issues.

And we will all pay for it. That includes the U.S.

My company trades with the U.S. We export a lot, but we also import from the U.S. Neither side has ever felt ripped off.

The current tariffs won't affect us but who knows what will happen next.

#17
Let's taker a recent item in the news. The German Air Force's readiness is a joke. In addition, the Tornadoes (that also handle the nuke delivery role) are clapped out and will need to retire. The German Air Force staff very much want a modern attack fighter that can penetrate Russian air defenses and is nuclear capable.

The F-35 fits the requirement perfectly, is the most capable fighter in the world and is also the cheapest at about $90M each flyaway. The German government has said under no circumstances (including firing the chief of the German Air Force) that the F-35 will be selected to replace the Tornado. The Germans will instead want more obsolete Eurofighters at $120M+ each made in Germany that cannot fulfill the mission requirements and then collaborate with the French so in 20 years you may have a fighter that approaches the F-35 capabilities today.

Well, Germany doesn't didn't compete on price that is for sure. They also didn't compete on quality, capability, delivery, or solidarity with the rest of NATO. Thanks for nothing.

#19
Germany's nuclear participation is currently ensured by the Tornado squadron in Büchel. In addition, the Bundeswehr has undertaken to provide NATO with interference aircraft such as the Tornado ECR. In the USA, the EA-18G Growler is available for this purpose. In general, there is also the question of how long the tornadoes can be used in a meaningful way. While the manufacturer still sees plenty of flight time reserves and upgrade possibilities, the Air Force believes that the risks and costs of Tornado flight operations towards the end of the next decade will be "unpredictable and unacceptable". In order to ensure a smooth transition, it is therefore necessary to introduce a successor from 2025 and not ten years later.

#20
Formally speaking, the F-35 is only one of the aircraft currently being investigated by the Ministry of Defence as a possible purchase solution for replacing the tornadoes. Berlin currently wants to get an overview of available samples. In this context, Germany received a detailed briefing on the F-35, but also information on the F-15 Eagle and the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet as well as on further developments of the Eurofighter. The U.S. Department of Defense is expected to respond to an official request for pricing and availability by March.

No one is attacking Europeans on these trade sanctions. These tariffs are a defensive measure to protect the American industrial base. Your problems are not a consideration. Defense verses offense -- learn the difference.

European Conservative #18.

Y'all don't deserve the F-35. Buy Gripens from Sweden or your own silly eurofighter plane. Your military cannot keep them maintained anyway. Providing F-35s is like giving linux boxes to teenagers (c.f. https://www.techrepublic.com/article/linux-to-windows-10-why-did-munich-switch-and-why-does-it-matter/). They will never work for you.

European Conservative #16.

Trump's tariffs are a real thing. Cope with it. Diffuse the issue. Trust me when I tell you that no one in America cares about your European trade surplus problems. The more the issue is highlighted, the more Americans are going to be unhappy about the current trade imbalances. This is how you got Trump. Bitching about it is how you get more Trump.

[ARABNEWS] Renault and alliance partner Nissan are discussing plans for a closer tie-up in which the Japanese carmaker would acquire the bulk of the French state’s 15 percent Renault holding, people close to the matter told Rooters.

The carmakers are in talks with government officials over proposals by Renault-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn that would see Gay Paree give up influence at Renault and the French carmaker relinquish control over Nissan, according to three sources.

But any deal still faces significant hurdles &dash; not least its extreme political sensitivity in La Belle France &dash; and has yet to win government approval, they said. To do so, it must balance French and Japanese interests, avoiding the appearance of a takeover.

[DAWN] The Chief Justice of Pakistain (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar on Wednesday refused to accept a verbal apology from News One Anchorperson Dr Shahid Masood for his startling allegations against the convicted rapist and murderer of six-year-old Zainab in Kasur.

The anchorperson had claimed during a late night show in January that convict Imran Ali was a member of a pornography gang which also includes a Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots....minister. During earlier hearings of the case, Masood had also told the court that the suspect has 37 foreign accounts.

The court today told Dr Masood that it was too late now to apologise after a joint investigation team (JIT) probing his allegations revealed last week that all 18 of the claims made by the anchorperson were false and baseless, and that there was no evidence for any of the allegations made by him.

"In your programme you said that you should be hanged if your allegations are proven incorrect," Justice Nisar reminded the anchorperson.

Dr Masood's counsel said that his client was prepared to do whatever the court asked of him. Following this, the anchorperson verbally apologised twice, but the court refused to accept his apologies.

"Some people had suggested you should apologise in [an earlier hearing in] Lahore," the CJP said. "The time for an apology has now passed," Justice Nisar said, adding that Dr Masood could continue contesting the case if he wished.

#3
Shuttle-sized? Space Shuttle-sized? Perhaps you could take that up with this super-plane but why would you? The shuttle was extra large because of idiot thinking that it would be cheap and could replace heavy launch vehicles. It's cheaper and safer to send up payloads desperately so you can shrink your shuttle down significantly.

[RT spit] Ubiquitous IT giant Google has silently inked a partnership with the Department of Defense to militarize artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies, reinvigorating fears of a Terminator-style apocalyptic scenario.

Google has been secretly working with the Pentagon in order to help its 1,100-strong fleet of drones to detect images, faces, and behavioral patterns, and plans to scour through massive amounts of video footage in order to improve bombing accuracy for autonomous drones. The endgame is to improve combat performance by automating the decision-making process in locating and targeting combatants, The Intercept reported on Tuesday.

Project Maven was launched in April 2017 to establish an “Algorithmic Warfare Cross-Functional Team,” which advocates using sophisticated algorithm-based technologies to combat rising “competitors and adversaries”.

#1
Certainly have to automate the battlefield and make up for the loss of manpower somehow. Birth control and ipads have turned the available population of potential draftees into anti-social, lard-arsed eunuchs. We'll be totally dependent upon AI and machines very soon.

#2
Oh goody. Get the facists at Google tied up with the paper shuffling brains at the five sided funny farm.
Coming soon to a 'conflicted area' near you: Stupid Facism.It may not make any sense, but we'll make you do it anyway.

A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.